For the furthur improvement of dancing, A treatis of chorography or ye art of dancing country dances after a new character
Subtitle: in which the figures, steps & manner of performing are describ'd, & ye rules demonstrated in an easie method adapted to the meanest capacity
By: translated from the French of Monsr Feuillet, and improv'd wth. many additions, all fairly engrav'd on copper plates, and a new collection of country dances describ'd in ye same character by Iohn Essex, dancing master.
Contributors: Essex, John.
Publisher: Sold by I. Walsh & P. Randall ... I. Hare ... I. Culen ... & by ye author ...
Published: 1710
Place of publication: London
Language: eng; fre
Number of pages: 88
Subjects: Country-dance -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. -- Early works to 1800.; Country-dances -- 17th century.; Dance notation.; Dance Instruction and Technical Manuals.; Notation for Dance.; Music for Dance.
Genres: Handbooks, manuals, etc.; Early works to 1800.
Other titles: Treatis of chorography; Art of dancing country dances after a new character
Description: This is a translation of Raoul-Auger Feuillet's treatise Recueil de contredances mises ... (Paris, 1706), by English dance, dancing master, and writer John Essex. Through the use of diagrams, the manual gives descriptions of floor patterns and motions for the feet and arms, indicates how the dance corresponds to the music, and provides rules for performance of English country dances, known in France as the contredanse (also spelled contredance). Diagrams and music for ten dances are given. Performed as a series of figures by a column of men facing a column of women, the English country dance was one of the most popular ballroom dances during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Notes: Engraved throughout.
Translation of: Recueil de contredances mises en chorégraphie.
Dances written in notation: p. 25-88. Those by John Essex are listed in: Forrester, F.S. Ballet in England, 554.
Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as facsimile page images.